Albies says the version of his teammate showing up in September is the one nobody in baseball can match.
Nobody on the Atlanta Braves has shared a field with right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. longer than second baseman Ozzie Albies.
The two have been teammates since the organization's 2015 instructional league, according to MLB.com, so when Albies talks about what his friend looks like at the plate right now, it comes from years of watching him up close.
With the playoffs only a few weeks away, his read on Acuña doubles as a read on how far this team can go.
A Bumpy Trip Through Wrigley
The week itself was uneven.
Atlanta dropped two of three at Wrigley Field, losing Monday, taking Tuesday by a score of 6-3, and falling 8-4 in Wednesday's finale before an off day Thursday.
Tuesday was the night worth remembering, because Acuña and Albies homered in the same game while left-hander Martín Pérez picked up his 100th career win, a milestone he said felt special to reach with this group.
Pérez has been one of the steadier arms on the staff all year, and he gave the Braves six innings on a night the offense showed up.
Wednesday went the other way, as right-hander JR Ritchie allowed six runs in less than five innings, though Acuña still had two hits and scored.
The Claim and the Numbers Behind It
After Tuesday's win, Albies did not hedge about what Acuña has become again.
"When he is healthy and he gets on one of these streaks, he's the best player in baseball," Albies said.
The numbers back him up, since Acuña is hitting .339 with five home runs and a 1.025 OPS in 15 September games, and MLB.com noted this week that he was carrying a .366 average over his previous 18 games.
His season line of .257 with 18 homers in 100 games undersells him, and September is simply what he looks like when he is healthy.
His surge started drawing attention weeks ago, and it has kept building since.
Albies knows something about the other side of that coin, because he entered Tuesday in a deep slump of his own, per MLB.com, and said afterward that homering alongside Acuña felt like the old days and that he hopes the night helps him get going too.
Closing Out the East
Atlanta sits at 89-64, four games clear of Philadelphia with nine to play, and any combination of five Braves wins and Phillies losses locks up the NL East.
The Phillies have already seen what a locked-in Acuña can do in a race.
The next test comes on the road, with right-hander Tyler Mahle opening a weekend series in Houston on Friday night against an Astros team that just moved into first place in the AL West. Acuña has played only 100 games this season, and Albies built his answer around the health part on purpose.
Short playoff series tend to swing on whichever team has the best player on the field, and if this version stays healthy through October, Atlanta walks in with that player.
A four game cushion means the next two weeks can be about getting him there in one piece.
